Surgery requires a sterile environment, free of bacteria which can cause infection in the surgical wound and sepsis.
Many surgical procedures also require a high precision in the surgical gesture. For example, in joint replacement or resurfacing surgery, such as in the knee and hip, it is important to implant the artificial joint with certain accuracy with respect to several possible criteria, including alignment to the skeleton, and to the soft tissues surrounding the joint.
The requirement of high accuracy in surgery has led to the introduction of computer and robotic assisted surgical systems (CAS) in the operating room. The following references describe some surgical robotic systems known in the art: PI Galileo (Plus Orthopaedics, Smith and Nephew), iBlock/Praxiteles (Praxim), Robodoc (Integrated Surgical Systems), MAKO Surgical Corp, The Acrobot Surgical System, da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.). Robotic surgical systems typically have to interact with both the patient and the surgeon in the operating theatre, and therefore they need to be sterile and not contaminate the surgical field. Some robotic systems are steralizible in conventional autoclave systems. Other systems that are not convenient or practical to sterilize are usually covered with a sterile drape to prevent microbes from contaminating the surgical field. This can be problematic however because the drape application procedure can be technically complex and require proper training and practice in order to assure that the sterile zone is not compromised during the draping process.
Robotic systems also need to be accurate, safe and reliable. They need to function as predicted and be dependable, and not be susceptible to electromagnetic noise, long use, or the sterilization and cleaning processes commonly required for surgical equipment.
It is an object of this invention to provide a robotic positioning system that is highly reliable and can be used in a sterile environment.
It is an object of this invention to provide a robotic positioning system that can be enclosed in an enclosure assembly that is simple to manufacture and can be either sterilizable or provided as single use.